Roleplay
by TriforceLink205
Summary: This was inspired by another story on here, so it has probably quite a few similarities... I'm hoping that will change and it will be more original as it goes on. At any rate, summary time. What happens after Ocarina of Time? And, what if Link and Ganondorf had grown up together? How would that effect Link's life afterwards. Well, this is what this story is about. T for paranoia.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey Everybody! Alright, so here's the deal, I haven't put up a new Zelda story in forever, and I was inspired while reading one on here, by the absolutely phenomenal author, Colleen-TJ. Now, I personally feel a little bit like she's a rival of sorts to me now, but not like Ash and Gary. She's a rival in that, her work is of such literary caliber, I have no choice but to strive to be as good as she is. So, I asked her to beta this story, and she did. :P It's a weird experience, having someone beta read my work, but I like it, I need more constructive criticism… Anyways, on to the story.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to The legend of Zelda, none of them. It ticks me off.**_

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_Link shouted as he swung his sword at the monster in front of him, ending it after a tedious hours' long battle. The monster cried out in pain as it fell to the ground, heavily panting out its last breaths._

_Link wiped the blood from his eyes and looked over at Zelda, who was sending a shining light towards the monster to encase it in magic._

"_Link! You have to send him to the Sacred Realm, it's the only way! Use the Master Sword!"_

_Link nodded, looked at the monster one last time, and thrust the blade of his sword into the creature's head to the hilt. The monster froze, screeched in agony, and then vanished. In his mind's eye, Link saw an image of Ganondorf, his brow furrowed, but smirking regardless._

"_Hero? You are no hero… you're a murderer, a vicious killer, and there is no one safe from your blade."_

_With that, he started laughing, and as the image faded, Link collapsed to the ground._

Link woke up in a cold sweat, screaming. He was in the spare room of Talon and Malon's house, where he had been staying since the final battle with Ganon. He found that working the ranch, however monotonous, was good for him. It kept him around Epona, and he enjoyed the tedium.

Malon rushed into the room with a worried expression on her face; she had been taking care of Link since his arrival.

"Link, are you alright? You screamed…"

He looked up at her, taking in her red hair and tan skin. This had become a bit of a habit for him; she made him feel healthy again when he knew he was in horrible condition.

"Yeah, I'm fine… just had a bad dream again."

She frowned at him before walking over to his bed and patting the spot next to her. He walked over and sat next to her, leaning his head on her shoulder tiredly while she wrapped her arms around him. This was not a habit.

"Link, would you be able to tell me what happened? I don't really know, and I don't feel like I can adequately help you unless I do."

He looked up at her, a sad, distant look in his eyes, before nodding and sighing heavily.

"It started about seven years ago. We were training to be in the Hylian military-"

"You were training to be in the military? At twelve? With a Gerudo?!"

"Yeah, we were training. I grew up at the castle, so I got special permission, and he was a servant who I befriended. I asked Zelda if she would let him train with me. She talked to her dad, and he said yes. While we trained together, Ganon and I became best friends."

"You were best friends with him…? He tried to enslave the kingdom!"

"I know that, but he only did that because he was corrupted by the Triforce of Power. There was some sort of contest that gave soldiers the opportunity to try and gain access to the Triforce, and at this point we were both about fourteen or thirteen, and he went after the chance. He wanted to make the desert a lush, green paradise. He wanted the Gerudos to have a good place to call home, but he got consumed by the power.."

"Then this whole fiasco started, and in the end you had to kill your best friend… Oh, I'm so sorry Link!"

She squeezed her arms tighter around him, trying to comfort him. He looked up at her through his tears and hugged her back, burying his head in her shoulder and crying.

"Link, if there's anything I can do for you, let me know, and I'm there. Do you understand? I would do anything for you."

He took his head off her shoulder, looked her in the eyes thoughtfully, and sighed.

"Just… Just don't treat me like a hero. I'm not a hero. I-"

"Link, don't you dare say that, you are a hero. You saved thousands of people!"

"But I killed hundreds of thousands of everything else! All those creatures, every time I put a blade through them, the look in their eyes… It still haunts my dreams! And on top of that, I had to kill my best friend! I grew up with that man!"

He broke down sobbing and fell into her arms. All she could do was sit there, trying to comfort him.

"Link, please… I'm sorry… I don't know what else I can say, but just know I care about you, okay? I really do…"

She sighed, and while they were like this, Talon walked into Link's room to check up on him, having slept through the scream that awoke Malon.

"Oh! Oh my, Malon, is he alright?" he asked, startled at the sight of the Hero of Time sobbing in his daughter's arms.

She shook her head so as to say _no_, and he raised his eyebrows. She waved her hand, telling him to go, and he made a noise that was somewhere between a chuckle and a sigh as he left.

Several minutes had passed by the time Link's crying started to subside. She grabbed his shoulders, pushing him away from her for a moment to inspect him. He was still crying, albeit much softer than he had been earlier. His eyes were bloodshot, his nose was red, and his cheeks were flushed.

She sighed, for the man she had once seen as a hero, whom she admired and cared for deeply, was now just a man, broken and sad, looking to her for comfort.

She pulled him close and tapped him on the nose.

"Yeah?" he asked, sniffling a little bit.

"You're gonna be ok."

He looked at her and smiled before assuming his spot on her shoulder.

"I know."

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**Alright, so, I hope you liked it! This is the first chapter of Roleplay! R&R to let me know what you thought. **** Also, if you thought my story was good, go check out the one that inspired it, My House My Rules, by Colleen-TJ, it's awesome!**

**TL205, OUT!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, now, this is chapter two of Roleplay. I'm gonna warn you right off the bat, I intend for this to be fairly dark, so it might be a little slow for the first few chapters, if you've read any of my other stuff, you'll know why. At any rate, I must thank the wonderful Colleen-TJ for helping me with this story, I really admire her work, and it inspired this story, so to have her help is really frickin' cool! :P Anyways, I don't own any rights to anything Nintendo or Legend of Zelda, I just own copies of the games.**

_Link and Ganondorf were sparring in the training grounds when they heard Princess Zelda's voice coming over the balcony overlooking it._

_"Link! Ganondorf! I have some news for you!"_

_"Yeah?" They yelled simultaneously._

_"Well first of all, come closer so that I don't have to yell as loud!"_

_"Alright... so, what is it?" Link asked._

_"Well, you know the legend of the Triforce?"_

_Link and Ganon looked at each other._

_"Yeah..."_

_"It's real!"_

_"WHAT?!"_

_"Yeah, and father's going to hold some sort of competition to see who's worthy of possessing it."_

_Ganon went wide-eyed._

_"Ganon, are you ok?" Link asked his best friend._

_Shaking his head, Ganon replied, "Yeah, I was just thinking, if I were able to possess the Triforce, I could make the desert a paradise, or at least less harsh for the Gerudo."_

Malon let out a small scream as something fell from the loft of the horse barn and right onto the bale of hay beside her.

Link groaned and picked himself up from the hay, wincing as Malon smacked the back of his head.

"Ow! What was that… Did I fall?"

"Yes! And it was terrifying! I almost had a heart attack, and you scared the horses!"

A dark look crossed Link's face for a split second.

"I'm sorry, I... I had another flashback.."

Malon put her hand on Link's shoulder sympathetically, brushing some hay off as well.

"Care to tell me what it was about?"

"Before."

"What?"

"It was about before the Triforce. When he was still my best friend. I remembered Zelda telling us about the Triforce, and that the king was setting something up to see who would be worthy of getting it.

"It wasn't frightening, I just wasn't expecting to have one. I must have blanked out up in the loft… I don't even remember why I was up there."

Malon glanced up at the loft thoughtfully for a moment or two, and then snapped her fingers.

"You were probably up there looking for dad; he likes to go up there when he has work to do sometimes, remember?"

Link nodded, chuckling a little bit.

"That seems likely… So, while we're talking about parents, and about the past…" Link stopped short, contemplating the next phrase in his mind. He'd been tossing the same question around in his head for awhile now, hoping that it might be a milestone in an analysis of understanding Malon better. Figuring that now was as good a time as any, he took a deep breath and spit it out. "Malon... what was your mother like?"

She blinked a couple of times, not really expecting the question, then smiled sadly.

"She was amazing… She- she was just perfect. She actually helped to deliver Epona, and since Epona's mother died just a couple of days after she gave birth, Mom would come out here to the barn and feed her while she sang the song to get Epona to sleep. Every once in awhile, she would fall asleep out here with the horses…"

Link smiled, thinking about all of the nights he had curled up against Epona, grateful for the warmth companionship she gave him throughout the day.

"She sounds great."

"Yeah… What about you? What were your parents like?"

A dark look crossed Link's face, but passed quickly, and was replaced by something of a resigned look.

"They were refugees from Calatia… My dad ended up joining the Hylian army. I never knew him; He died a month after I was born… Mom died when I was seven, right before I met Ganondorf. Fell into the river that leads to Zora's domain. The current pulled her under. They never found the body. But she was amazing."

She looked at him in shock. She hadn't expected that, nor had she expected him to be so… reserved about it; he didn't shed a single tear.

"Oh Link… That's- that's horrible! I'm so sorry!"

He looked at her, smiling a little bit.

"She was a wonderful woman, and a lot of sorrow befell her during her lifetime, I wish it had been different, I wish she could have had a couple more years, but I'm glad she didn't have to go through what we did. This war… this was unnecessary. It could have been prevented… If only I hadn't pushed him to go for it…"

"I would have loved to have met her; any woman who could raise such a noble, good, pure man must have been an amazing person."

He blushed a bit at hearing this, and then smiled at her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a tight embrace.

She returned it after only a moment's hesitation. She loved feeling the warmth of his body against her own, reveling in the fact that he was holding her close.

Blushing, she tucked her head into the crook of his neck. He seemed a little surprised at the action, but didn't break the embrace, instead holding her more tightly, resting his head on hers.

They walked over to a haystack nearby, and they sat and held each other for what felt like hours. (In reality, it was merely minutes.)

Link smiled, and, chuckling a little, kissed the top of her head, causing her to look up at him.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked him, trying to hide her blush.

"Well, I was just thinking, we're sad about having lost family members, but I never really knew my father, and your mother left on a good note. We should be reveling in what we have now."

As he spoke, he squeezed her tighter, and they moved infinitesimally closer to each other until, by the end of his sentence, their faces were inches apart.

Staring into Link's eyes and moving ever closer, Malon smiled, saying, "You know, you're right. We should be."

Link smiled at this, then mimicked her, moving closer to her face, until they could feel one another's breath on their lips.

Inching closer, closing eyes... Link jumped, screaming slightly and letting go of Malon, who promptly fell to the ground.

"What was that?!" she yelled, obviously displeased by the interruption.

Link sat on the haystack, holding his hand to his chest, breathing heavily. Epona's head appeared from the back of his neck.

"She wanted me to pet her…"

Getting up to help Malon, he gave her a look of immense apology, knowing he had ruined their moment.

"Malon, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to, I just… I, um…"

She looked at him expectantly while he fumbled for words, smiling at his foolishness, then quickly placed a peck on his cheek.

"That's for trying."

She winked at him as she left the barn. (Not for any particular reason, but just to get out of there. She needed to cool off.)

Link watched her go, smiling as he placed a hand on his cheek, and then turned around to face his horse.

"Epona, what were you thinking?!"

The mare simply whinnied and tapped her hoof on the ground so as to say, "It was getting stuffy in here."

He glared at her for a second. Then his expression softened and he petted her nose.

"You know, one of these days I'm gonna be able to do something like that _without_ an interruption from your nose."

She neighed and snorted, nudging him with her nose.

"Alright, just a short ride."

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**Ok, so I know it got all mushy towards the end, but I haven't written any romance in so long, and it worked, I liked it. Anyways, I hope you liked it too, let me know with a review? And check out my other stuff? Like my Team (The-Team-Titans-Writers)? Please?!**

**TL205, OUT!**


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